Battle of Khost
The Battle of Khost was an engagement between the Taliban and the Soviet Union during the Soviet-Afghan War, in which the Taliban resisted the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Supported by the United States and China, the Taliban held off a Russian attack. Background .]] The Soviet Army invaded Khowst Province in Eastern Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan, hoping to defeat rebel activity in the region there. The Mujahideen leader Mullah Rahman recieved aid from the Chinese, who were rivals of the USSR, and the United States, who sent three operatives to hunt for USSR ally Raul Menendez, who was a gun runner in Kabul, but had to gather intel from Rahman. The American troops' presence had to remain 100% deniable, because if they were found out, the USSR would have serious diplomatic problems with the USA. They dressed as locals, while the Chinese were already at a low-level state of conflict with the USSR, starting with border clashes. The Soviets outmatched the Mujahideen and their allies in men, armor, and firepower, but they were in a foreign landscape and the Mujahideen knew the land well and had mines and rocket-propelled grenades that were supplied to them by the USA and the PRC. Although the Mujahideen had no experience with the weaponry the CIA agent brought, the Americans and Chinese did, so they were sent to the front lines. Battle The Soviet attack came through a narrow pass in the valley between the mountains, held by the Mujahideen. The Soviets began to attack the Mujahideen camp, so the Allies held the West Blocking Point, a devastated brick town. They used M1A1 Anti-Tank mines, mortar shells, and RPGs to blow up the enemy BTRs, destroying the two Russian BTRs and killing many of their soldiers. After the Americans and Chinese destroyed the tanks, the Mujahideen finished off the infantry. To prevent a further incursion to the west, the Americans planted a crater mine in the entrance to blow a huge gap in the ground to stop tanks from moving in. General Lev Kravchenko, the Russian commander of the Soviet Army, threw everything he had at the Mujahideen and their allies, and Soviet T-55 tanks came in from the north, storming the valley and killing many of the Taliban. The Soviets captured the eastern point, and Mullah Rahman felt that the battle was lost. However, a Taliban counterattack recaptured the ammunition cache in a cave, and the Mujahideen charged Kravchenko's command tank. Alex Mason, the commander of the American troops, boarded the tank and knocked out Kravchenko, who was killed in interrogation by Frank Woods after revealing that he smuggled weapons to Nicaragua to the Menendez Cartel. After this, the Mujahideen betrayed the Americans and left them in the desert to die, because they were their "true enemies" for their capitalism. In the end, the Russians were defeated and withdrew from Khowst Province, leaving the Mujahideen victorious. Later on, ironically, the US invaded Afghanistan and defeated the Taliban, setting up a new government. Category:Battles